"NOT SLOWING DOWN."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 908, 30 August 1910, Page 6

"NOT SLOWING DOWN."

• THE COLONIAL WORKERS. ' VIEWS OF ME. TKEGEAR. A contribution (o the controversy that has centriid- round the question of iwhetlier, the workers of New Zealand are "slowing down" was iiiado_ yesterday by Mr. E. Trcgear, Secretary" for Labour, when -'interviewed. by•■' a Dominion representative. .. It will be remembered that at .the annual meeting of "the Auckland Provincial Employers' Association, . Mr. -Cx. A. Colos stilted that the workers ot New' Zealand -were obviously slowing down, and that when Australian workers came to tlio Dominion ; ,they very soon setlletl down to. the local pace. When'a question such as. this arose, remarked:'Mr.'Tre'gcar, it was better to get down' to' bedrock, .and->compai;e the value of'the anhuul product of "the -New Zealand worker now .with what it was some .years ago, .rather, than, ;.mako general statements. ■ opinion-was that ttio worker of this country was not slowing down, but before he. gave bygones ho would point out that, iv comparison rot the value- of the product now and a number: of years ago was not an exact method of arriving at; toe-truth, -.me state of- the market, tor" Instance, was a factor which ■ entered into such ~a comparison;'and machinery was another.; It, for instance, a firm doubled-its staft, b\it worked'.with the same quantity and quality of machinery as before, it would be unreasonable to expect that the- output would be-doubled. While, therefore, the comparison he was/about to make was not':-'exact; Tie. wouW-'give' it for what ■ I ''ln ß l9oo the'wages paid in factories or industrial works, throughout New Zealand, was, .£3,302,647, and in 1905 it. was •£4457,619, an increase of thirty-hve per cent In 1900 the value of all manufactures or-products (including-repairs)-was. and in 1905 it was/23,4 M,2 b, an increase in the five years of. ±0,591,1114,.or 31.31 per cent. At the oamo time there was a large increase- m the value of land used for, .purposes of. the factory, and in the: value, of buildings and machinery. Bearing this in mind, and considering that there, .was. no great inequality in .the percentage increases in wages and value- of. ■ manufactures, .. it did not seein that the worker was slowing do\vn. : -■' ,-'_,'' .' Sometimes, continued .Mr. .Iregear, a comparison Was made between tho rate at which the New Zealand employee and the "United States employee worked, and. it was stated, that tno'value of the annual product, of the worker, in New- Zealand was and in Amerjca it was •Ho. contended, 'however,-that the difference between 'these '.figures•'. was easily accounted, for .by the long hours worked : in the United States, the utter disregard for the health and safety; of the workei, the ("teams" system, nnd other ■ considerations. ■'Under tho' "teams" system a specially fast man was paid extra to leau the team. He worked -outrageous activitj-.'and the others had to keep up to him, with the result that the .employer Kot about ten hours work out of them.in. five hours. It might be true that, with up-to-date machinery, long hours, and fierce driving the' American • worker, produced Mti worth of .manufactures per annum ; and the New Zealand worker only-. J!415, butwas,the Amorican product ithe r'eEult of■ a fair day's work? Eather. it was the-result- of a .niggcr-dnving, days work- He had visited factories, in New Zealand- thousands of. times, 'and never in any case had Jie seen men or .women standing idle-except , at, the:', meal-hour. He did not believe that, .workers had either been instructed by; the unions, to. slow off'or'did so. of , their-own accord. ; One reason whyhp thonght there had been/ no'•-slowing•''off,-■'.-continued.- Mr., i'regear, was that in the majority of cases ■ the worker had' on ■ incentive.-: ; to increase -his''ontput tomaintam or increase his wage. The Department had ■shown by actual• figures ■ that in many trades tliere were-no-workers receiving the minimum wage, and in other trades twenty, fifty, or sixty per cent, were paid more- than the minimum; the average was about fifty-eight. If there were a slack.ening-off, employers had it in their own' hands to reduce wages, ami so long as they did not do so ho could not believe -there -'was.'a,',slowing .down. Of cou'rsc if men were employed at a' minimum wage (that was at a bare. wage' by which life might.be kept in.the toiling "body), then, since the employer gavo as little as ho could, it might bo that the worker -gave as little as; he could in return, : which- seemed, fair enough.. '■-.■;. : In conclusion; Mr.. Tfegear said that he would expect to.'find a slackening-off more, pronounced when trade was slack .than when it was ;brjsk. .When men were only getting bvo-qr; three days work a week they.would naturally be depressed, and'-'it would be .if they, -put the.. , -same--"go"-into Heir,-'work as when there was plenty to do, and they were Teceiving full.time, or overtime. ■